HeBrew Bittersweet Lennys R.I.P.A

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
San Francisco, California USA

got mad trashed off this, cuzin’
i be gettin mad buzzin’
sippin brew feelin fresh
sip a drank; motherfucker, smell my breath
believe me when i tell it cuz its true
best to sip this right homeboy; brewed by dat ill ass jew.
- an ode to my good friend, jew rapper.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma is moderately malty and moderately hoppy. Smells of toasting and caramel as well as resin, grapefruit, and aromatic hops. Poured a copper/red or ruby/amber in color with a small tan head that lasted throughout. Good lacing. Clear. Sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet and heavily bitter. Sweetness noted in flavors of malt, caramel and cookie. Bitter hop notes of pine, resin, wood, and rye. Also has slight alcohol taste up front. Medium to full body. Tingly, sticky texture. Long, kinda dry, bitter finish that make my mouth water. Overall, a different IPA that is well balanced and nice and bitter in the end.

22oz. bottle. Murky dark orange-brown with a small light tan head. Sweet/spicy rye with dusty herbal and citrus hops in the aroma. Citric metallic hops up front, ruddy and slightly grainy malt component of varied sweetness and texture. Large crystal malt character with pine and earthen floral hop flavors. Residual dirty bitterness in the finish, with a tinge of alcohol heat and a coarse maltiness. Mouthfeel is a heavy medium, starts sticky but resolves somewhat dry.

Thanks to Jacob for sharing. Copper, thin tan head. Nose is caramel malt, fruit, relatively high hops. Flavor is caramel, alcohol, piney hop, sweet candy.

Aroma is a balanced sweet malt, caramel, and bitter hops. Pour is a clear red/brown with a large creamy off-white head. It’s got some very nice lacing too. Flavors are a pretty standard citrus, piney hops, caramel, and sweet malt. Notes of rye. Medium to heavy mouthfeel.

22oz bomber, pours reddish brown with pretty tan-off white head. looks tasty. nose isn’t overly hoppy but has some nice PNW hop notes mixed with caramel, brown sugar, fruits, nuts, and a hint of alcohol. taste has lots of upfront rye and caramel notes with great juicy hops, hop bitterness isn’t over the top but very enjoyable. alcohol is very well hidden. mouthfeel is rich and full. i like the rye in this but i can hear a complaint that it’s a touch over done. the hop flavor is very nice but perhaps the nose and bitterness isn’t quite enough. overall, a very tasty and well made big beer, a nice tribute to a legend.

Wow, this is a serious beer. Packed with complex flavours, the malts and rye flavours come through, but not at the expense of the traditional IPA hops. This beer packs an initial wollop of aroma and flavour, improving as you drink it.

Unlike Lenny Bruce, I can’t quite say that I found this beer particularly interesting. There is certainly an obscene amount of rye used in this beer and it does come out.